


limits

by foxmagpie



Series: little gifts [4]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 13:25:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19395058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmagpie/pseuds/foxmagpie
Summary: Set during 2x08 when Rio comes over and sees that Beth's been robbed.---“Wow,” Beth says. “That makes four visits in one week. A record.”“You countin’?” he asks. He steps closer to her and Beth swallows. He pushes her bangs out of her face in that way he does. Beth feels heat spread through her body and her stomach drops.“And you used the front door and everything,” she says, studying the toy in her hands very hard.“Yeah, I heard the kids in the back,” Rio says. His voice is calm and quiet. Beth’s struck by his thoughtfulness.  “Woulda done the whole thing properly, but you didn’t answer the door. Had to fall back on my usual methods.”Beth smiles, and Rio touches his thumb to her chin. Beth knows if she just looks up, she’ll close that gap and kiss him.





	limits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ppondss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ppondss/gifts).



Judith drops the kids off early the next morning. The kids barrel past her into the house, and Judith doesn’t stay to chat, thankfully, because Beth is _hungover_.

Dean comes downstairs at the explosion of noise. They don’t say anything to each other.

Immediately, the boys start fighting over whose turn it is to play Fortnite on the iPad, and Emma starts singing and dancing, practicing for an upcoming recital.

Beth shuts it down; the iPad goes away, not to come out again until the evening at least, and then she sends them all out into the backyard. She warns them to be careful of the holes, but says they can make as much noise as they want out there while she has some peace and quiet. The kids scatter, except Jane lingers. Of all her children, Jane is the most like Annie—she’s a momma’s girl (well, Beth was substituted for their mother in Annie’s case) and she likes her one-on-one time, even if it’s just sitting in silence. Jane climbs onto a chair at the island and starts brushing a doll’s hair.

Beth starts preparing breakfast—crepes with fresh fruit. While she cuts up the strawberries, she hears the distant sound of screams and laughter buffered by the walls of the house. Dean’s still standing at the base of the stairs, useless, observing, watching life happen to everyone around him. Figures. Beth continues to ignore him.

“Did you have fun at Grandma’s?” Beth asks Jane while she measures out coffee to brew. She needs caffeine and some ibuprofen, pronto. 

“Yeah,” Jane says. She doesn’t look up from her dolly. 

“Did you watch a movie?” 

“No,” Jane replies. “We were going to but then we couldn’t find one we all wanted, so we just ate popcorn and did art.”

“That’s nice,” Beth says, pulling out the rolling pin for the dough.

“Mommy, look!” Jane says suddenly. She’s pointing to her neck, where it appears that she had her grandmother wet and press half a dozen temporary tattoos. “Look, I got art just like your friend!”

Beth’s eyes go wide and, behind-the-scenes, Dean blanches.

“Oh, wow, sweetie,” Beth says, stunned. “That’s looks... lovely.” 

“He’s nice!” Jane declares. “I wanna play with Marcus again. Can we soon?”

 _Shit_ , Beth thinks. Last night she’d let Dean believe that Jane’s dubby had somehow been left at Rio’s house, and now Jane’s babbling on about how much she likes Rio and his son and how she can’t wait to see them again. This is _bad_.

“Jane, go wash those off right now,” Dean commands her. His voice is like acid.

Jane swivels to look at her father, then back again to look at her mother. Dean isn’t usually stern, so Jane’s not sure how to process this shift. “Mommy, do I have to?”

“No, sweetie, it’s fine.” Beth shoots a look at Dean.

“Jane. _Now_. Go. Washcloth and soap,” Dean says. He claps loudly at her, as if to say, _chop, chop,_ making Beth's temper flare.

“Dean, come on, seriously?” Beth asks. “She’s six.”

“Yes, Beth, I'm serious!” The volume of his voice startles both Beth and Jane, and it only continues to rise. His arms flail about in his fury as he jabs and points. “Come ON! I— DON’T— WANT— HER— AROUND— HIM! I— DON’T— WANT— HIM— INFLUENCING— HER! Christ, do I really have to _explain_ this to you?’

Jane’s face morphs and shifts into distress. Big, fat tears start to slide down her face.

Beth hurries around the island and picks her up out of her chair, curling Jane against her body.

Beth hisses, “Dean, come on. All she knows is that he’s nice to her. Don’t scare her like this.” She runs her fingers through Jane’s hair, soothing her.

“Oh, _I’m_ scaring her, huh? Wow.” He grits his teeth.

“Dean,” Beth pinches the bridge of her nose with the hand that isn’t holding Jane. “Go. Take the day to yourself. You need to calm down, okay?”

Dean looks like he’s about to protest when Emma walks in, oblivious, and starts asking when the crepes will be ready. She stops dead in her tracks, reading the sour mood in the room, but she looks unsure how to respond to it. Dean huffs and stomps up the stairs.

“Where’s dubby?” Jane sniffles. Beth kisses her temple.

“Emma, sweetie, why don’t you take Janey upstairs to find her dubby?” Beth suggests, voice sugary, trying to smooth things over. She sets Jane down on the ground. “Then you guys can play dolls or practice your dancing? How about that?" She tries to make it all sound as if it will be very fun, that there's nothing they need to worry about. 

Emma nods, serious, and then she grabs Jane’s hand and leads her up the stairs. Emma reminds Beth of herself, the dutiful big sister, always there to pretend that everything is alright with the parents when it so clearly it isn’t. Dean passes the girls on the stairs on his way down, saying nothing to them. He’s got his krav maga bag around his shoulder. He doesn’t say goodbye as he clomps out the door. When the door slams shut, Beth breathes a sigh of relief.

–--

When breakfast is ready, the girls have mostly recovered. Jane still trails her dubby with her downstairs, but by the time everyone’s eaten, she’s forgotten about it on her chair. Beth’s headache is still throbbing. She dumps the dishes in the sink and asks the kids to go play more outside. 

Beth showers, washing the hangover off of her body. She slips on her comfiest jeans and a dark purple sweater, feeling marginally better than she did before, now that she’s gotten a jumpstart on her day. While she’s blowdrying her hair, she swears she hears a rapping noise from somewhere. She turns the hairdryer off, listens closely for the sound, but there's nothing. She turns the hairdryer back on and flips over, focusing on the bottom layers of her hair. 

She feels a terrifying jolt of electricity shoot through her and she lets out a girlish scream when she flips back up and sees Rio standing behind her in the mirror. 

“Mornin’,” he says casually.

Beth puts a hand to her chest and feels the _thump thump thump_ of her startled heart. “What on earth are you _doing_?” she hisses. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Yeah, I tried knockin’,” he says as way of explanation. His hands are locked behind his back and his adam's apple bobs above a high-collared navy button-up. He shrugs nonchalantly with one shoulder. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not,” Beth shakes her head and laughs a little. “You love this.”

“Mm,” he assents. She feels his eyes scour her from head to toe. Goosebumps sprout on her arms. It feels like she hasn’t been alone with him for a long time. It’s not true—it was less than a week ago that she met up with him in an alleyway when Jane was missing—but it feels like it. That feels like a lifetime ago, somehow. It feels like they were two totally different people then. 

“Why are you here?” 

“You love askin’ that,” he says. His lips curl into a small smile. “What you think I’m gonna say?”

“Business,” Beth says, sighing, but also visibly relaxing. She knows how to handle a business conversation. “What is it now?”

Rio doesn’t say anything, and Beth creases her eyebrows in confusion. “Well?”

Rio takes one of his hands out from behind his back and presents Beth with the Doc McStuffins toy that Jane coveted from Chuck E. Cheese yesterday. The memory feels very far away after her fights with Ruby and Dean. 

Beth wants to _melt_ , but she doesn’t want Rio to know that she’s melting, so she says, “What is this?”

“A stuffed toy from the popular children’s cartoon series _Doc McStuffins_ ,” Rio says matter-of-factly. “Yeah, see, she’s this li’l girl that wants to be a doctor like her ma, so she heals her toys and shit. It’s inspirational.”

“Ha, ha,” Beth says. She rolls her eyes at him and takes the toy from his hand. “I mean, _why_?”

Rio just stares at her, one eyebrow raised. Beth realizes she’s forgotten her manners. “I mean… _thank you_ ,” she says sheepishly.

“Nah, don’t thank me,” Rio says. He laughs a little and smiles at her. Beth feels a flutter in her stomach. She’s nervous, but not like she’s nervous around him when other people are around. This is a comfortable nervous, an _excited_ nervous. It feels like… it feels like something has shifted with them. She doesn’t have to be so on guard. “Marcus picked it out from Chuck E. Cheese. He wanted Jane to have it.”

“You’re kidding.” Beth’s jaw drops open. There’s no way any kid in the entire world is _that_ precious. 

“Swear it,” Rio says. He holds up his pointer and middle fingers on his right hand and presses his left hand to the center of his chest: a promise. “He felt bad that Jane was so upset when y’all left. You were in a real hurry.” He pauses, studying her face. “Everything good?”

“Yes,” Beth lies. She’s furious at Ruby, but like she said, she would never think of giving her up, even now, even for a second. 

“Good,” Rio says, but he’s staring at her like he knows there’s more but knows not to press it right now. “Anyway, he _insisted_ I deliver it today.”

“Wow,” Beth says. “That makes four visits in one week. A record.”

“You countin’?” he asks. He steps closer to her and Beth swallows. He pushes her bangs out of her face in that way he does. Beth feels heat spread through her body and her stomach drops. 

“And you used the front door and everything,” she says, studying the toy in her hands very hard.

“Yeah, I heard the kids in the back,” Rio says. His voice is calm and quiet. Beth’s struck by his thoughtfulness. “Woulda done the whole thing properly, but you didn’t answer the door. Had to fall back on my usual methods.”

Beth smiles, and Rio touches his thumb to her chin. Beth knows if she just looks up, she’ll close that gap and kiss him, but she can’t do this here, now. She clears her throat and then steps around him to pad across the bedroom floor and set Doc on her nightstand. 

As much as she wants to give in to the electricity in the air, she can’t—not in her home, not in hers and Dean’s bed. Yes, she knows technically Dean hasn’t slept in it in months, and yes, she knows she’s already slept with Rio, and she’s even fully aware she doesn’t own Dean shit. But… Her kids are outside. And even though she knows the marriage is dead, she wants things to dissolve a little more officially with Dean before she can fully process what’s happening with _this_. 

The bathroom had been spur-of-the-moment, pure heat and passion and _need_. And if she’s being honest? She wants more than just that, as good as it was, as much as it turned her to jelly. And she can’t make rational decisions when the air feels this thin, when he’s this close to her and she can smell his laundry detergent and his aftershave. It was only days ago that she was drunk calling him in the middle of the night, completely confused about his intentions, feelings, everything. She needs more solid ground to stand on.

“I’ll give this to her later,” she promises about Doc. “She’ll be really happy. Rough morning. Lots of crying.”

Rio waits for Beth to say more, but she’s not sure she really should. Rio knows her marriage isn’t _good_ , obviously, but he doesn’t know the specifics. He doesn’t know about the affairs or even, she thinks, that the money problems stemmed from Dean. 

Speaking of money problems and Dean, she remembers her dug up backyard again. 

“I need to show you something,” she says. “But first I need some more coffee.”

–--

Beth and Rio stand side-by-side at the kitchen sink. Their elbows are touching as she sips her coffee and he looks out at the mess Dean’s made of everything, and that alone is enough to make Beth fidget. Is she ever going to stop associating sinks with the feel of his hand on her thigh, the sensation of his teeth nibbling at her shoulder?

“Shit,” he says. “Who knew _exactly_ how to rob you?”

“It’s a _whole_ thing,” Beth says. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“How ‘bout… at the beginning?” Rio suggests. He looks over at her and smirks. 

Beth laughs. “I’m so drained,” she says. “I don’t know if I have the emotional capacity to go over it all again.” She pauses, and decides to let her guard down—it feels like she can for once. “Dean and I had a massive fight last night.”

“Ah, so this is his fault.” Rio nods, like it’s what he suspected. Beth just sighs. 

They watch as Danny holds a toy above Jane’s head, out of reach. Emma puts her hands on her hips and starts lecturing him. Danny laughs at her and then throws the toy far over Jane’s head into Kenny’s hands. Beth knows that there will be an explosion in five, four, three...

They watch as Jane stomps her foot on the ground and bursts into tears. Jane flies to the backdoor, yelling that she’s going to tell mommy. Beth turns around to lean against the sink and Rio mirrors her, but he also takes two steps away from Beth, so there’s a distance between them before Jane barrels into the kitchen. Before Jane’s even rounded the corner she’s yelling, “Mommy! Danny’s being MEAN!”

“Hi, sweetie.”

Jane sniffles, noticing Rio, unsure of how to react to him, showing loyalty to the complicated feelings of her father although she can’t quite understand them. She keeps her eyes on him, but says nothing. 

“Do you want to say hi to Rio?” Beth asks her. She won’t make her—Beth believes strongly in lettering her daughter decide who she lets into her life and in what way, even at six, but she is crossing her fingers that Jane trusts her own gut over the word of someone acting irrationally. Beth’s not so blinded that she can’t see Dean’s perspective at all, but he doesn’t really know this Rio. Jane does. Beth does. She knows that Rio would never put Jane in jeopardy. That’s not something she could have always said with confidence, but she knows it now, and Dean won’t even give him a chance. 

Jane edges herself over to the island and grabs the dubby, pressing it to her chest. Beth sees Rio take in the importance of this blanket that he’d rescued. He’s being very still, very relaxed, doing nothing to startle Jane, who is still eyeing him uncertainly.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Beth says. “You can go put on some TV if you want.”

Jane nods, but doesn’t move. 

“Janey, remember Marcus?” Beth asks. “Rio came over to bring you a present from him.”

Jane’s mouth curves into a small grin, and her apprehension begins to melt. “Hi, Rio,” she says quietly.

“Hi, Jane,” he says. His voice is gentle, softer than normal.

Then Jane’s feelings change all at once; she abandons her hesitation, tips back her head and displays her tattooed neck for him. “Look! I got art just like you!”

Rio _laughs_. Hard. He throws his head back and the sound bubbles out of him, contagious. Beth and Jane laugh, too. 

“Okay, ‘bye!” Jane says abruptly, and she zooms into the living room and turns on the TV.

“She likes you,” Beth says softly. 

“What can I say?” Rio shrugs, smirking. “Boss recognize boss.”

“Dean was a little less thrilled with her ink.”

Rio purses his lips. “That account for her rough mornin’?”

“Ye—”

The rest of the kids come zooming into the house, yelling and screaming and fighting about what each of the other one did and whose fault it was. Beth holds up a hand and says, “Uh uh. Stop. _Now_.”

The kids quiet, looking at her. “All of you, separate rooms, _now_. Jane’s claimed the TV, so I don’t care what you do, but you can’t do it together.”

“Can I have the iPad?” Kenny asks immediately.

“No,” Beth says. “I already said not until after dinner.”

Kenny goes to protest and Beth says, “You want to make it until tomorrow? Because I can—”

“No!” And Kenny disappears up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

The kids scatter, and Beth and Rio walk into the backyard. Beth is barefoot, sipping her coffee. Despite everything, she feels sort of at peace for the moment.

“So tell me this story,” Rio says. 

They sit at the picnic table. Beth tucks one foot underneath her, getting comfortable, and Rio sits on the top of the table, his feet on the seat, his hands clasped together, his shoulders relaxed. The tension between them has just vanished. Right now, it's almost like they’re just two people who enjoy each other’s company. 

Beth sighs. “Well, honestly, I think this part of the story begins with you.”

Rio looks sideways at her, squinting in the light. He doesn’t say anything.

“I don’t know. When you left the dubby in the envelope, it _really_ got under Dean’s skin.”

Rio can’t hide his smirk. “Yeah, I think I remember hearin’ something about that. I mighta been drunk, though, or—wait. No. That was _you_.”

Will he ever let her live down the midnight drunk dial? Beth lightly hits his knee with the back of her hand. “Stop. I’ve been robbed blind, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, aight, sorry, continue.” He spins one of his hands as if to say, _go on_

“I think that was amplified by your choice to leave me a certain bottle of booze somewhere where Dean would find it before I would?”

“No, that bothered him?” Rio asks, fake stunned. “Forgive me, because I had no idea that—”

“You going to let me tell this story, or not?”

Rio smirks, running two fingers along his lips to signal that he’ll be quiet.

Beth regrets _shushing_ him almost instantly because this is the part of the story she doesn’t really want to tell. “I guess these things bothered him so much because—well. He got this crazy idea to—to—” She lets out a frustrated breath. “He hired some kids to ‘scare you.’”

Beth half-expects Rio’s face to sour, his shoulders to tense, for him to declare Dean a problem that needs to be _solved_. She expects that she’s going to have to talk him down because, despite everything, he’s her children’s _father_. But Rio just guffaws. Loud. Boisterous. His delight reminds her of Annie: he can’t contain it. It spills out of him. Although the circumstances are not what she would wish for seeing him so gleeful, she can’t help but think he looks—and there’s no other word for it— _beautiful_ this way. His energy is always magnetizing to Beth, whether he’s furious and hard or teasing and soft, but this is something else. Beth scrunches her toes.

“Can I speak?” Rio asks her. “Oh, please let me speak.”

“No,” Beth says, relieved. “He’s obviously an idiot, okay? I don’t know what’s gotten into him, though, with a plan _that_ dumb.”

Rio sobers. “I think he’s concerned about what’s gotten into _you_.” He stares off to the other side of the yard. “Probably thought this was the only way to fix it.”

The implication of his statement makes Beth feel heat tickle her chest and crawl up her neck into a full-blown blush. Rio’s teased and taunted her about their bathroom break for fun, but this feels different. It’s the first time he’s brought it up completely seriously. Beth chews her lip, unsure of how to continue. 

“So, he hires these kids to scare me...” Rio says, waiting for her to pick up the rest of the story.

“I don’t know all of the details exactly, but I came home to this, with Dean on the floor, duct taped to a chair, with—with—” she gives him a pointed look she hopes he understands, “—stuffed _in his mouth_.”

Rio’s eyebrows rumple. “What was in his mouth?”

“My—” she tilts her head and makes her eyes go big. Rio is clearly not getting it, because he looks at her like she’s speaking another language. She coughs. “I believe you have a pair of mine?” She takes a long drink of her coffee.

Rio throws back his head and laughs so hard, harder than he did at Jane’s neck tattoo or at learning that Dean tried to scare him off with teenagers. “They put your panties in his mouth?” He turns to look at her, a big grin plastered across his face. 

“Don’t say panties,” Beth scolds. 

“Oh, please, don’t tell me you call them underwear. Don’t be that lady!”

“None of this is funny!” 

Rio can’t contain his laughter, though. He puts his chin in his hand, tries to hide the giant smile behind his hand. “Ah, damn, that Dean’s a trip, man.”

“They took every cent I’ve made,” Beth reminds him.

“Oh, relax,” Rio says, waving a hand in the air like it’s no thing. “I’ll take care of it for you.”

Beth remembers telling Dean that she would go to Rio for help with this, knowing she wouldn’t, in reality, because she’d expected Rio to tell her to handle it herself, like he does almost everything. _Be a boss bitch_ , and all that.

“And get it back?” Beth asks skeptically.

“What’d I just say?” Beth can hardly believe it. She doesn’t know what’s prompted it, exactly, but Rio was definitely treating her differently now. It feels wonderful—and terrifying.

“But _how_?” Beth asks. 

“Again, not your department, is it?” 

“They’re just kids,” she reminds him, taking a sip of her coffee. _Surely he wouldn’t..._

“Who _stole_ ,” Rio reminds her. “You need to set limits, mama, you know that.”

He acts like taking care of thieves that stole thousands of dollars and tied up her husband is as easy as taking care of her four children, like it’s as simple as setting limits on the iPad and making them eat a vegetable before dessert. She has a feeling Rio’s solution involves the gun tucked into his waistband, however—and that’s _her_ limit.

“Is that your solution to everything? What happens when your son wets the bed? You gonna cap his ass?”

“Yeah,” Rio says, nodding sarcastically, “I’m gonna cap his ass.” He’s smiling, but she can tell she struck a small nerve, accusing him of such a thing, even something so obviously absurd. He’s shaking his head at her.

“Well, you can’t solve every problem by shooting someone in the face,” Beth says, like this is perfectly normal advice to have to tell another human being.

“Alright, look,” Rio says, and he shifts the way he’s sitting so his body is turned towards her, his shoe nearly touching her bare foot. “Here’s your problem, okay? That dumbass husband of yours in there gave ‘em a taste…”

He lays it all out for Beth, how these thieves now know where to come looking for money again, and how they know, basically, that she can’t rely on the cops, since there’s obviously _something_ sketchy about how she’s getting the money in the first place. 

“They’re just gonna keep taking and taking til you got nothin’ left but a good old fashioned turf war on your hands,” he finishes.

“Or they’re just kids,” Beth reiterates. She doesn’t want to believe this—has Dean really jeopardized everything, even her _future_? Will she always be looking over her shoulder, waiting to be robbed again?

Rio shrugs, exasperated. “You better hope they play nice, then.” He gets up, and Beth watches him leave through the gate. He’s not angry, he just won’t force her to do it his way, she realizes. That was his whole spiel—now it’s up to her.

She hopes she’s right, that they're just kids, because she wants to show Rio there are other ways to solve these problems. She’s always proving she can rise up and meet him in his world. It would be nice if somehow she could show him that he could fit a little bit into hers, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to ppondss who is having a rough week at work and whose comment made MY week.


End file.
